Borders and mirrors.

I woke up one day and there was a man at my door. I didn’t invite him, I am pretty sure no one that I know gave him my address or location. But through the keyhole, he looked serious, he looked as if he wanted me to be the one thing he was looking for. I opened the door. Before even greeting me he gave one good look up and down, then a good stare down right into my pupil. He asked me “are you from this country, sir?” I replied “yes”. He said that it was my moral obligation, and I was bound legally to go along with him. I was confused at first but realised that he wasn’t wrong.

2034 has been the roughest year for humankind in the past 50 years, and I include pandemics and all the problems we’ve had. The world was breaking in on itself everything was put against itself. Or everyone was put against each other. Without choice, without discussion, that was just how it was. The entire population was obligated to fight for the region they were in or belonged to. I don’t think it mattered to them who we fought for as long as we fought. It had come to a point that the reason we were fighting wasn’t the biggest motive, but it was just replacing a fallen soldier with another.

I stood still thinking all of these things to myself, while the man at my door grew impatient. I asked him “sir, how long do you think this war would last?” he asked back “how long do you think you would last in this war?” both of our eyes opened wider after he said that and even every one that heard it, they were all probably listening in by now. You know the walls listen right? Privacy wasn’t really something the world knew of these days. They say it once we started using screens, we only thought about what we see on the screen and not what the screen saw us doing. Because at some level I think we all knew it was watching.

Shutting it down, unplug the power, covering it wasn’t gonna do anything, but we were just so dependent on them. The man at my door grew completely ballistic as I thought to myself for about 10 minutes. And then snapped me out of it. He said, “So why haven’t you packed your bags yet?!” I didn’t really think much of it, and it wasn’t like I had a choice, so I went into my house and took a few pairs of clothes and only two things that meant something to me. A cup and a photo of my family. I hadn’t met them in years, and the cup was a small pink tea container, nothing special but it was a gift. With a small bag, I started walking with this military man.

Then I heard a huge boom. As If something blew up, blew up really badly. I was scared. Not as much as I should be though because these noises were frequent now. Things would blow up and not really any action or reaction would be taken. I was one of the last ones to leave for the battle. A lot of my friends and people around me had gone. I have heard from them since they went. I don’t know how they decide who goes first but apparently they take those with higher-paying jobs first which surprised me since I was unemployed.

The ride to the border felt like an eternity, but actually, it was only about 45 minutes. The commander didn’t even teach me anything he just put a uniform on me handed me a gun and said “go!” I couldn’t really understand how everything was happening so fast. But with my terrible aim, I don’t think anyone would really get shot. I just tried to maintain cover and maybe find a familiar face. someone from the other side of the border tried crossing and I shot at them just as they entered.

I thought he would be alive. So, I went to check, I released he looked just like me. At first, I was confused. Did I have a twin? Were there more of me than I knew about? It couldn’t be a coincidence the similarity was uncanny. I tried to talk to him, his eyes look just as surprised as mine. He said “why, how? Are you?” and gave out. I realised that it was me. I had shot myself; this was some sort of sick joke the simulation played on me right? I stood up over the safety guards thinking it was over, the point was made until 4 shots fired and pierced my torso. As I fell I realised all the bodies beside me were just like me. The world wasn’t against anyone but itself. The war with oneself.